This invention relates to a holder for holding corrugated tubes each receiving wire members (such as electric wires and a wire harness) therein, and more particularly to a holder capable of positively fixing and holding any of various corrugated tubes of different outer diameters.
Also, this invention relates to a holder for holding bellows-shaped corrugated tubes each adapted to receive a bundle of long thin wire members (such as electric wires) therein and then to be installed, and more particularly to a holder for holding end portions of the corrugated tubes.
A corrugated tube of a bellows-shape is used for collectively receiving wire members (such as electric wires and a wire harness) therein to protect the same and then for arranging or installing these wire members according to a predetermined layout. There have also been developed holders and protectors each for holding two corrugated tubes together in such a manner that end portions of the two corrugated tubers are interconnected or communicated with each other (see, for example, JP-A-2000-13950).
Namely, as shown in FIG. 25A, there is known a tube-shaped fixing member or holder 100 for holding an end portion of any of various corrugated tubes C ranging from the small-diameter corrugated tube CA to the large-diameter corrugated tube CB. When the end portion of the corrugated tube C is inserted into the fixing member 100, an outer surface of the corrugated tube C is retained at two points by a retaining claw 102 and an elastic retaining piece portion 103 formed respectively at an upper portion and a lower portion of a housing 101 of the fixing member 100. Thus, the corrugated tube C can be easily fixed to the fixing member 100.
Also, when any of the corrugated tubes C (CA to CB) of different outer diameters is to be held by this holder 100, the difference between the outer diameters is absorbed by a tilting action of a tilting piece portion 104, and therefore any of the corrugated tubes C of different diameters can be held by the holder 100.
This conventional holder 100 is of such a construction that for each of the corrugated tubes C of different diameters (for example, for the corrugated tubes CA and CB as shown in FIG. 26A or B), the retaining claw 102 and the elastic retaining piece portion 103 formed respectively at the upper and lower portions of the housing 101 are engaged in a groove Co of the corrugated tube C at two (upper and lower) points. In this construction, the stability of holding of the corrugated tube achieved by the gripping of the retaining claw 102 and the elastic retaining piece portion 103 varies depending on the outer diameter of the corrugated tube. Namely, when a large external force such as a pulling force or a torsional force acts on the corrugated tube of a larger outer diameter, there is a possibility that the corrugated tube may be disengaged from the holder laterally at regions where the retaining claw 102 and the elastic retaining piece portion 103 are not engaged with the corrugated tube.
Also, a bellows-shaped corrugated tube is used for receiving long thin wire members (such as a bundle of electric wires and a wire harness) therein to protect the same and then for being flexed to be installed according to a predetermined layout. An end portion of the corrugated tube is held by a holder or a protector as disclosed, for example, in Patent Literatures 1 to 4.
Namely, in a box-shaped holder for holding end portions of corrugated tubes which is disclosed in Patent Literature 1, when the end portion of the corrugated tube is inserted into the interior of the holder through a hole in a side wall thereof, a peripheral wall of this end portion is inserted between a bottom wall of the holder and an elastic holding piece portion, and is held therebetween, so that the corrugated tube end portion is held by the holder. This box-shaped holder includes a plurality of holes formed through the side (or peripheral) wall, and a plurality of elastic holding piece portions formed on the bottom wall. When the end portions of the corrugated tubes are inserted into these holes, respectively, the corrugated tubes are held by the holder, and therefore the plurality of corrugated tubes can be connected together.
A protector disclosed in Patent Literature 2 includes a body having a bottom wall and a pair of side walls which extend long in a longitudinal direction of wires so that the body can receive the wires therein, and a cover for closing an open top of the body. When the open top of the body is closed by the cover, the cover presses the (bundle of) wires against the bottom wall, thereby holding the wires. More specifically, each of the side walls of the body has a plurality of step portions arranged in an upward-downward direction, and can be contracted in the upward-downward direction. The cover has interconnecting piece portions, and these interconnecting piece portions are inserted respectively into retaining tubular portions formed at the side walls, and are retained therein so that the mounting position of the cover relative to the body can be adjusted. With this construction, the cover can press the wire bundle against the bottom wall of the body to hold the wire bundle regardless of the thickness of the wire bundle.
A protector disclosed in Patent Literature 3 comprise a body for receiving a wire bundle received in a corrugated tube, and a cover for closing an open top of the body. The body is so constructed as to provisionally retain a wire bundle, and the worker can connect the cover to the body without grasping the corrugated tube.
Patent Literature 4 discloses a fixing member or holder for holding an end portion of a corrugated tube. A retaining claw and an elastic holding piece portion are formed respectively at an upper portion and a lower portion of an inner surface of an end portion of the fixing member. When the end portion of the corrugated tube is inserted into the fixing member, an outer surface of the corrugated tube is engaged with the retaining claw and the elastic holding piece portion, so that the corrugated tube is easily held by the fixing member.
[Patent Literature 1] JP-A-9-130941
[Patent Literature 2] JP-UM-A-5-025920
[Patent Literature 3] JP-A-11-008922
[Patent Literature 4] JP-A-2000-013950
However, any of the devices of the above Patent Literatures 1 to 4 has not been designed to fix and hold a plurality of corrugated tubes of different outer diameters, and therefore could not positively hold the corrugated tubes of different outer diameters.
For example, in the holder disclosed in Patent Literature 1, the end portion of the corrugated tube is held by the bottom wall and the elastic holding piece portion. Therefore, the end portion of the corrugated tube can not be sufficiently held by the holder. Particularly, this holder is not suited for holding a plurality of corrugated tubes of different outer diameters. The holder of Patent Literature 2 is designed to hold the wire bundle, and is not designed to hold a corrugated tube. The protector of Patent Literature 3 is not designed to hold end portions of a plurality of corrugated tubes. The fixing member of Patent Literature 4 is formed into a tubular shape, and is different from the type of holder in which a corrugated tube is received in a body with an open top, and then this open top is closed by a cover.